Latvian village resident spent eight days without power after storm, slams response

A week after a severe storm hit Latvia in late August, hundreds of customers of grid operator Sadales tīkls remained without electricity. As of August 30, about 240 customers were still affected, including Vasilijs Barvinskis, a resident of Viesīte parish, who went eight days without power.

Barvinskis says the hardest part was the lack of information, since phone service also went down along with the electricity. The only number that worked was the emergency line 112, but operators there could not explain what had happened and simply redirected him to Sadales tīkls. Once phone service returned, he says it was still impossible to reach the company directly.

He received a text message promising power would be restored by Friday, August 28, but later got another message saying the timeline was uncertain. Barvinskis questioned why authorities failed to act more decisively during the uncertainty — for instance, by delivering generators sooner or declaring a state of emergency. He also said the local parish administration had no real influence over the grid operator's work.

The situation changed on August 29, after Barvinskis posted videos about his situation on Facebook. Following that, the State Fire and Rescue Service's Civil Protection unit contacted him and offered a generator. By then, however, he says it was too late — around 40 kilograms of meat in his freezer had already spoiled. He also asked why help wasn't provided earlier, such as after the first 72 hours without power. The generator came with only a small canister of fuel, enough for about a day, meaning residents will have to buy additional fuel themselves.